Day 1- On a train leaving Kristiansand, here I sit restlessly wondering where the time went. Looking back on the pictures stored on my camera the trip seems unreal even though we just left this morning. Are we really here, halfway across the world traveling solo across countries we could only imagine a couple weeks ago? Never again will we be this young and will it be our first time overseas. We truly are on a trip of a lifetime. Unfortunately, that trip has flown by and I wonder what I will plan next.
It seems like all we do is say goodbye. Every time we find each other we’re forced to say goodbye to return to the real world. Every time is the same. My heart strings tighten. This time I thought they might burst. The only reason they didn’t today was because I knew I’d be back in December. After that who knows when the next time I see Malin will be. I’m afraid of this chapter of my life slipping away.
While in Kristiansand we, the girls, talked a lot about how old we are getting, almost 20. In 10 years we could be married, have kids of our own (not Jill), own a home, and have more than a minimum wage paying job. More than this trip is flying by. Life itself seems to be flying by.

Stockholm:
I promised Malin while we boarded the train that we would return for the wedding. Haha, but actually quite a scary thought. A lot can change in a couple years. Who knows if we’ll be able to afford to come back then, or have the time, or the physical ability? I really hope so.
Traveling inspires me to be open minded and excites a desire inside me to keep learning and appreciating the beauty that surrounds us, even if it is in my own back yard.
12 hour train trips are NOT FUN! The seats and the family across from us were smelly, children were being obnoxious, my iPod died, and there was a ferret or wolverine thing beneath the seat. 3 hours in I wanted off. I kept telling myself ‘only 3 x a trip to Minneapolis’ left. On the bright side, I read an entire book. We kissed the ground as soon as we got off of the train. The excitement was short lived though…
REASONS WE HATE STOCKHOLM:
1. After getting off the train at 10:30 pm, we were on the streets for 2 hours looking for our hotel. Either nobody had a clue what we were talking about or they pointed us in a million different directions. I ran probably 3 miles looking for the hotel. It also didn’t help that the hotel wasn’t correctly mapped on the internet. Finally, we found someone with a phone and they called the operator for us. Sweet right? NO.


2. The “hotel” was the sketchiest hotel I’ve ever stayed in. We rang a bell and the gate was unlocked. After fitting one person and suitcase in one of those tiny, close the gate yourself, elevators, we made it to the correct floor. An Indian man with a gash on his neck greeted us. The place was dead silent and creepy as hell. He showed us to our room. As soon as we shut the door we freaked out. The place was floor to ceiling outdated wallpaper. The curtains fell on Jill. There was a large, brown stain on the bed. The bathroom was in the hall. We thought we were the only ones there in this creepy man’s apartment/hotel. We outfitted the bed in some sheets I brought from home and reluctantly got in. No sleep that night. I constantly woke to strange noises and the feeling that bugs were crawling all over me. Don’t book the cheapest hotel in Stockholm, $60 USD dosen’t get you much. (Wasa Park Hotel)



3.It rained… the whole time. We were wearing flip flops and Jill fell down an entire flight of stairs. Welcome to Sweden. Luckily, she didn’t break her beer mug/ krunk cup!




4.Upon checking out of the “hotel” we were informed that because we had “2 extra guests” we needed to pay a fee of 720 SEK ($100). We didn’t have that cash and thought that charge was ridiculous. So, Jill went up and grabbed the remaining suitcases and we RAN for the train station. My heart was beating out of my chest. The woman from the hotel began to chase us! She caught us and demanded we pay. We responded with “It was dirty, there were bugs, and we’re not paying for shit”. After arguing with us for a good 5 minutes, flabbergasted, she ran back to the hotel saying she was going to call the police. At this point we are all having heart attacks. We ran into the train station and got on the first train to Oslo. During the train ride we couldn’t stop talking about it.

If you see three American girls, with excessive baggage, running and sweating bullets, stop them! They are fugitives escaping from Sweden!

Upon exiting the train a man stopped us and presented a badge. He began to question us about where we were going and what we were doing. I panicked. Oh no! They caught us. Luckily, it was just border control. They saw all of the bags and thought that we were possibly smuggling alcohol, cigarettes, and other goodies into Norway. Thank the LORD!

Now when we think of Stockholm we just laugh! And Laugh! And Laugh!

OSLO – The city I’ve been dreaming of
We’re finally here! It is just as amazing as I had hoped. It has all of the charm of Copenhagen, but with a modern twist. Tonight we went out for Pizza, visited the Opera, and strolled Karl Johan’s Gate where we did a little shopping. Now all I need is a good night’s sleep in a nice hotel and we’ll be ready to roll tomorrow.

Sunday: Waffles at midnight! Who knew that here waffles were an afternoon thing? After a late night swim Grete prepared a trillion heart shaped waffles for us. We put jam, chocolate, butter, cheese, and in Malin’s case sour cream on them.
Monday: My favorite day by far. Today we spent the day on the ocean. It was sunny , but a little breezy, still that didn’t stop us from having a great time. Around noon we anchored on the rocky shore of an island. After unloading our things we lounged on the rocks, soaking in every drop of sun… most of us that is. Valerie searched for jellyfish to poke most of the time. Soon the sun became hot and we jumped off of the back of Frestad’s boat into the ocean. The water wasn’t exactly warm, but we had worse problems, a jellyfish invasion! These nasty little buggers were everywhere. With one little swoosh of a tentacle you had a burn. We took a lot of pictures, even some underwater. It was then that my underwater camera decided to not be waterproof. Now, it is completely encrusted in salt and won’t even turn on. Yeah! Later a couple of boys drove by, an ice cream boat! Who knew. For dinner Denis and Grete grilled some chicken and hotdogs, which we had with potato salad, rice, and coca-cola. For dessert, Oreos. Soon the weather began to cool off and the sun began to set. All of the kids (6 of us) rode on the front of the boat. For me it was almost a sad moment. One day to go and we’d have to say goodbye to this, the comfort, the beauty, and the joy of southern Norway in the summer.
Tuesday: I love breakfast here! Throw out a loaf of bread and a million toppings and you’ve got some hard choices to make. My personal favorites are the homemade strawberry jam and the sjoko duo, a chocolatey spread. In the afternoon we headed to the ocean one last time. We lazed around in the hot sun and bought an ice cream. Later Malin made us Spaghetti for dinner and we stopped at the grocery store to buy some things for our upcoming trip to Stockholm and Oslo.
We bought:
2 loaves of bread -11 KR
12 apples -68 KR
Carrots -18 KR
Strawberry jam -20 KR
Chocolate Spread -9 KR
For a total of 127 KR (around $20)
Tonight I’m anxious about the long train trip tomorrow, packing, and saying goodbye to the reason for this trip.
 

I'm in LOVE with a fairytale

Thursday: Malin had an appointment this morning, so she dropped us off at the mall. I still didn't buy anything. Valerie fell in love with a lavender dress. I looked at the price tag, a decided it would be a quality purchase. Unfortunatley, I looked at the Danish price... In NOK it was $75. Oops... Malin also introduced us to Alexander Rybak today. He is the Norwegian winner of Eurovision, similar to American Idol. His hit is titled "Fairytale". There is a link to it posted on by blog. That evening we had a BBQ with all of Malin's friends. Most of the conversation was in Norwegian, so we really had no idea what people were laughing at. Malin has been an amazing translator for us. For desert we had some Norwegian / American candies. I thought I might change my mind about the licorice. Nope, not a chance! Candy is not supposed to be salty.
Friday: Today we went for a little hike. Many, many stairs and in flip-flops. The view was amazing though! You could see most of Kristiansand from the top. We then went for a bath in a lake that translates into "the sugar water". After returning home, Jill fell asleep. The rest of us walked to the store and got an ice cream. Probably the best I've ever had! It was a raspberry vanilla ice cream bar dipped in white chocolate. Later that evening we went swimming again at another lake. To get in you have to jump 20 feet or climb down the rocks. The sunset was gorgeous tonight. It's odd that it dosn't get completely dark until around 11 pm here.
Saturay: A lazy, lazy day. Not complaining though. In the evening we went to a gathering at Malin's friend Jon's house. At first people were nervous to speak English around us, but that wore off soon enough :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uiH4BFTELME

Monday:
Today we went downtown Kristiansand. It was raining/misting and chilly. We walked around the shops. I successfully found a converter for my computer and I bought a Norwegian dictionary. The shops here are soooo cute. I would just love to decorate a house here. In many store you can buy fabric to match the accessories for a room. All of the prints are so bold and trendy. I love it! I also bought my first Norwegian long wiener. Not as good as I was hoping it would be. The bun was a tortilla like piece of lefsa and it sure was long. Unfortunatley, trying to adjust my umbrella I dropped it on the ground :( Later we also got some ice cream at a local shop. The evening was pretty low keyed. Magnus came over and we watched Planet Earth. For dinner we had meatballs and potatoes with red currents. Very good. There was also homemade ice cream for dinner.

Tuesday:
A hiking we go! We climbed to a lovely view of Kristiansand today. It took maybe an hour. The hike reminded me very much of Hartley Field. At the top we had some cookies and tea. On the way down Jill took a spill. Luckily, there isn't even a bruise. After a dinner of fishballs (interesting...) and a delicious jam like desert we headed out on the ocean on Malin's boat. AMAZING! Her dad gave us an annotated tour. Very informative :) When we got home Eirick treated us to his version of mac and cheese. The best I've had yet!

Wednesday:
DYREPARKEN! The largest zoo / amusement park ever! We spent the entire day here. The weather gave us a break and rose to be in the mid 70's. At the park there was every animal imaginable. My personal favorite were the Lemurs. You could walk right into their enclose and they would just scitter across your path! There was also an alpine slide, a haunted house, log flume, and spinny- axe type ride. I also enjoyed jungleland, which was an obstacle course type thing that took about 30 minutes to complete. Not so fun in a dress and flip flops though. After returning to the house we had a dinner of rice poridge and soon after Jill fell asleep. Valerie, Malin and I met some of her friends at a lake to go for an evening dip. The most breathtaking experience thus far, not because the water was cold, but because it just seemed to be one of those moments you never want to forget.

Sunday

Malin woke the sleeping beauties around 10. AWAKE, but hardly. Again breakfast at lunch time. A million different spreads and toppings for bread. All I can say is AMAZING! Also, rolls fresh from the oven. Later we went on a drive through the country. It was amazing how skinny the roads were. I was nervous every time we approached on oncoming car. We went hiking in the remains of tunnels built during the Nazi occupation of Norway. Malins dad later told us that many prisoners of war died building those tunnels. There was an amazing view of the ocean from this place attractive to both the Nazi’s and us, for dissimilar reasons. We were able to actually go down in some of the tunnels. Exploring was fine until Valerie and Malin saw the biggest spider they had ever seen. Umm… yea.. time to go. From there we drove to the beach. Unfortunatley, today was extremely windy and a little chilly. We lounged around and chatted while Valerie looked for jelly fish to poke. Malin explained to us that although it was legal to buy a ski doo in Norway it was illegal to drive one. Good luck out there to all those Norgies driving them in the bay. For dinner we were treated to one of Malins favorites, a cheesy pasta dish and homemade ice cream with Daim! LOVE LOVE LOVE
Later Magnus came over and Malin’s little brother, Eirick , challenged us to an archery match. Although I told him he was going down, the girls were clearly the losers.
Slowly we all became a bit sleepy and settled down to watch Planet Earth and the Happy Feet.

Kristiansand

I cannot believe I woke up in Malin's house this morning!!! Absolutley felt like I was still dreaming. Constant chatter filled the day... with the occasional yawn :) We had breakfast around noon, got ready and headed to the mall. There we stopped and said hello to Stian an work and did a little clothes shopping. SHopping here is overwhelming! You may see something you like, but then you have to figure out what size you would be, and then who knows how much it even costs is USD. We didn't buy much. We also went to the grocery store. LOVED THAT. I'm very excited to learn about different food while I am here with Malin. Hopefully I wont have to survive on hotdogs and bread since I have no idea what most of the packaging reads. I'm learning though! Today I translated a phrase on soem chocolates... "Full av Fristeleser"... "Full of Temeptations". We also met a couple of Malin's friends today. Malin bought us some NORVegiea cheese, brown sort of odd cheese. I guess we had to try it before we left. Jill was the only one who liked it. Even the Frestads don't like it.

We're struggling a bit with electronics here. None of our converters seem to be working! I burnt out a hairdryer and my power cord for the computer dosn't even fit in the converter! I may need to call hp and order a European power cord for my computer.

For dinner we had tacos and christmas pop :) Denis also made "lava cake", as Valerie calls it.

We're on a BOAT!

Today was a very stressful day. Being the stupid Americans we can't help but be, we brought 6 full size suit cases. Never did it cross our minds until we were lugging it to the train station that getting that luggage across Denmark might be difficult. We successfully managed to get on the right train only 5 minutes from our hotel into Copenhagen. From there we caught a train to Aalborg, about 4.5 hours away. We didn't have reserved seats so every station we stopped at caused us anxiety. I was constantly worried that we wouldn't have seats and would be kicked off somewhere within Denmark. Luckily, and some how, we made it into Aalborg where we took a connecting train to Hjorring which took another hour. From Hjorring we caught another train to Hirstshals. We didn't know where to pay for this train ticket so we rode without one. Very risky business. Some where along the way I also noted that one of the wheels on my largest suit case had fallen off and that I had been dragging it. The bottom had been completely destroyed! No wonder it was so hard to pull! In Hirstshals we booked tickets on the Colorline ferry to Kristiansand Norway. They cost about $40. Hirstshals in a port city so there was no option but to have fish and fries for dinner. Not bad I must admit.
Finally, we were allowed to board the ship. Everyone was running and we didn't understand why. Soon we realized that seats needed to be reserved on the ship and that hardly anyone had reserved them...so we ended up sitting on the floor. There was also a tax free market onboard. It was nearly as crazy as Walmart on black Friday! The taxes in Norway are extremely high, therefore alcohol, smokes, and candy was extremely cheap. Too bad all I had was US dollars and Danish Kroner. We also had our first drink on the trip. No ID required. Even for Valerie! Velkommen to NORWAY! Drinks were on the house as a gift from Norway said the bar tender. Lets just say the rest of the trip was a hoot. haha
Pulling into Kristiansand was the most amazing feeling. The lights and ocean were breath taking. A sense of relief came over us. We were finally there! We docked at midnight on Friday. We were the first ones off of the ship. haha . As soona s we saw Malin we started screaming and ran across the street dropping all of our bags in the middle of the street. Everything was worth it at the moment. We hugged each other and walked back to the car. Valerie noticed Malin's Norwegian accent had returned. Hmm... I wonder why? All of our luggage some how fit in her car and we made the drive to her house. We stayed up until about 2 am catching up and taking everything in. All 3 of us slept especially well last night.

ALSO. Check out Jill's blog ohhthepossibilities.blogspot.com

Copenhagen

Falling in love is easy to do here! The city is amazing both day and night. Last night after taking a rest we decided to go into the city to get something to eat. Easier said than done. First we had to get on a bus. We found a woman who sort of spoke english and she helped us buy a ticket and get on the right bus. We really felt out of place. After struggeling getting to the central Station, we finally got there and found a place to eat, Hard Rock Cafe. The food was very expensive. Valerie and I got the cheapest item on the menu, Santa Fe Spring Rolls, for 80 DKK or about 13 USD. We were also excited to learn that drinking water was free. From there we walked the streets. It was later so all of the shops were closed, but we still had a good time. Eventually we decided to head back to the hotel. Unfortunatley we missed the last bus because we were talking to some Swedish boys. Oops... at least we learned how to play rock paper scissors in Swedish. After this discovery we considered walking, borrowing peoples bikes, and a taxi. We were afraid the taxi was going to cost us an arm and a leg, but to our surprise it cost 138 DKK. We were thankful to be back.
This morning we woke and got ready and then went down tothe hotels complimentary breakfast. BEST BREAKFAST EVER! I had swedish pancakes with berry jam, coffee, and soft boiled eggs. We also snuck some food into my bag for lunch. Later we hopped on a bus again and rode into the city. There we checked out tourist shops, took a boat tour through the famous canal, and just took in the city. Finaly we found a grocery store where we were able to buy some bread, water, vegetables, and chocolate.

COPENHAGEN